Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Asked
about the kind of public integrity cases he investigates, Texas
Ranger James Wilson Jones said, “Oh, you know, there's just a whole
lot of paperwork – lots of paperwork...”

Waco
– Convicted by his own admission, former Tax Assessor-Collector
Buddy Skeen spent his last couple of hours of freedom sitting at the
defense table in district court, gazing into the middle distance with
sadness in his eyes under his arched brows.

As
Chief Prosecutor Michael Jarrett read the list of stringent terms and
conditions with which he would be ordered to comply, the reality that
he would probably be going away in shackles began to sink in, and he sat arms
akimbo, the fingertips of his right hand pressing against his upper
lip.

His
sadness overtook him and he tented the fingers of both hands in front
of his face, pulling off his glasses as he let the tears flow.

The
jury of 7 women and five men sent one note with two questions to
Judge Matt Johnson after they retired to deliberate around 3 p.m.
after a long day of tedious testimony from car sales managers, a
Texas Ranger, and former employes of the Vehicle Inventory Tax
department of his former office.

The
messsage slip read, “Is restitution going to be paid on probation?

“What
is the maximum probation?”

Judge
Johnson replied, saying “You are to render your verdict basd on the
facts. You are not to concern yourselves with matters not in the jury
charge.”

The
jurors contemplated their decision for about an hour and a half. When
they emerged, two of the men were visibly angered. One young woman
appeared to be amused.

They
recommended a suspended sentence of two years in the State Felony
Jail for his guilty plea to misapplication of a fiduciary property,
suspended with a term of probation, and a $10,000 fine.

They
had been asked to choose between that sentence, a similar suspended
sentence with a suspension of the $10,000 fine, and a sentence of
confinement to the State Felony Jail for two years.

The
judge sentenced Mr. Skeen to six months confinement in State Felony
Jail, a $10,000 fine, restitution of the funds misapplied, and five
years probation.

An
investigation that had run for more than a year, mountains of
publicity, and 40 boxes of evidence seized from his office by the
Public Integrity Unit of the Texas Rangers that totaled more than 100
separate items never revealed where he had put one penny in his
pocket or diverted funds to his own use.

“This
case should be about what Buddy Skeen has actualy done,” said Mr.
Jarrett in his jury summation. “Send a message to the community. I
promised you I would give you the truth, and I've given you the
truth.

What
did Mr. Skeen actually do?

He
traded in a pickup bought for the use of the employees of the Vehicle
Inventory Tax department of the tax collector's office, accepted a
sum that was below market value, and sold the vehicle to the son of
an employee for an estimated $5,000 below market value.

Said
Dorothy Ramos, “Mr. Skeen helped many people.”

Jurors
found that to be a misapplication of property worth more than $1,500
and less than $20,000 that was rightfully owned by the citizens of
McLennan County.

There
are other counts pending in the indictment, including theft of
property by a public official – running boards and a pickup bed
cover and tonneau top from a county-owned vehicle he had installed on
a pickup he bought for his own use, giving false statements, and
forgery.

Mr.
Skeen's lead defense attorney, Jeff Kearney, made an immediate motion
for an application for an appeal bond.

Judge
Johnson set a hearing on the application for Friday morning at 10
a.m. as bailiffs led the freshly convicted felon away, took his
jewelry, belt and personal effects, and gave them to one of his
lawyers to hand to his wife.

As
the gallery left the court, a small coterie of men with whom Mr.
Skeen drinks coffee at the local McDonald's and attends Sunday School
lingered. Each one had testified earlier that his guilty plea had not
changed their opinion about him in any way.

Each
told the prosecutor when he asked that, if necessary, they would help
Mr. Skeen reform his ways while serving his probated sentence. One
man looked very pained as he admitted that, yes, he would inform
authorities if he learned that his friend had violated the terms and
conditions of his probation.